The Poly football team’s season ended in a semifinal appearance against Mater Dei on November 29. Poly fell to the Monarchs 30-0, on their home turf at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium.
The Jackrabbits were wearing their gray uniforms, which were unveiled at last year’s semifinal appearance against St. John Bosco. Poly could not get any drives going in the first half. A rare sight for Jackrabbit fans was when Monarch running back Justin Allen had a 75-yard run and scored. This brought the score to 6-0. After some more stalled Poly drives, the Monarchs kept scoring, and eventually brought the score to 20-0 at halftime.
After halftime, the Jackrabbits had some inspiration, coming from senior reciever Christian Pabico’s 48-yard catch. Unfortunately, this drive would stall on the next play, when Poly fumbled the ball, giving it back to the Monarchs. Senior reciever John “JuJu” Smith was in double coverage the entire game. During the game, Smith caught the ball three times for 14 yards gain. In the second half, Smith converted to the running back position, which seemed effective. But fumbles and stalled drives shot any chance of the Jackrabbits scoring. The closest the Jackrabbits got t scoring was a pass to Pabico in the end zone. In the end, the Jackrabbits lost 30-0.
Although the Jackrabbits were shut out, the season’s end is a great time to remember the seniors that have helped this team over the years. Lineman Jason “Pops” Fao was a four year varsity starter, and helped keep the Jackrabbit’s playoff hopes alive during the Orange Lutheran game, when he sacked the Lancer quarterback in the final minutes. Alongside Fao for most of the time was Gasetoto “Gmac” Schuster, who played on the offensive and defensive lines. Saualii “Serge” Fao also played on the offensive and defensive lines. Another senior who helped create the strong lines was Drew Ho. Caleb Turner helped stop the opposing running games while playing at middle linebacker. In addition, Rodney “Bama” Shorter played at defensive end. Elijah Moody played at safety and defensive back. Demetric Woodard played at defensive back as well. Imani Mitchell started at defensive tackle. Quarterback Tai Tiedemann started at quarterback for two years, helping the Jackrabbits to a PAC-5 title last year. Though Christian Pabico was only at Poly for his senior year, he caught many sideline touchdown passes, and was named one of the Moore League’s offensive players of the year. John “Juju” Smith made many memorable plays for the Jackrabbits. Smith was named the Moore League Player of the Year.
Despite many seniors leaving, there are still quite a few returners to next year’s team. The junior class is returning linebacker Omari Lyles, running backs Jeremy Calhoun and James Brooks, cornerbacks Iman “Biggie” Marshall and Justin Calhoun, defensive tackle Joseph Wicker, lineman Justin Canada and quarterback Josh Love. The sophomore class is also returning a few starters. Cornerbacks Micah Croom and Jackie Jones will be playing on next year’s team, with another year of expierence.
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